Foldable chair.



Q ZW/ L. M. GLOUSE.

FOLDABLE CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 8, 1912.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

LUTHER M. CLOUSE, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

FOLDABLE CEIAIR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 8, 1912.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914. Serial No. 695,821..

To a! Z whom it may concern Be it known that I, LUTHER M. CLoUsn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in F oldable Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

My invent-ion pertains to 'foldable chairs and resides in the provision of a chair structure which may be readily folded into a compact form by'a manipulation of practically only one controlling element therein. This controlling element is desirably the back of the chair and this back of the chair is so constructed and disposed in such relation to the remaining parts of the chair that a swinging of the back out of normal position will have a tendency to cause a complete collapse of the chair. In my preferred form of foldable chair, the back is hingedly mounted and is so connected to the legs that a swinging of the back rearwardly and downwardly will automatically operate to move such legs into collapsed or closed relation so that the chair becomes practically completely folded by one operation. In this preferred form, the seat is desirably hingedly mounted upon the back, but provided with means of bracing it therefrom, as well as with means for locking the seat to the forward legs of the chair, whereupon the braced relation of the seat to the back, serves to look all of the elements of the chair against 001- lapse.

The preferred embodiment of my invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts, and in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of my chair in operative position, Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1 and showing the two possible positions of the seat with relation to the back. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the chair structure in an intermediate position of collapse, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the chair entirely collapsed, Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 55 of Fig. 2, Fig. 6 is a detail of the form of bracket desirably used by me for mounting the braces between the back and the seat, and, Fig. 7 is a side elevation of this detail.

In the drawings, there are shown two leg elements 1 and 2 which are substantially parallel and which are connected by crossed levers comprised of pivoted strips 3 and 4: pivotally secured at their upper ends to the leg elements as at 5 and 6 and having their lower ends of the form shown in Fig. 5 and slidable in slots 7 and 8. These lower ends are preferably provided with lateral pins or axle bolts 9, carrying roller sleeves 10 designed to operate in the slots 7 and 8. To the rear lower ends of the crossed levers upon either side of the leg elements are lever links 11.

Desirably mounted upon the upper end of the rear leg element 2 is a back 12 hinged thereto as at 13 and hingedly carrying a seat 14 as at 15. This back 12 pivotally carries the upper end of the lever link 11 as shown at 16 and the seat element 1d may be braced at substantially right angles to the back by jointed brace rods. The lower members of these jointed brace rods are designated 17 and are pivotally connected to brackets 18 which extend an appreciable distance outwardly from the sides of the chair seat in order that a proper alinement of the jointed braces may be obtained. The upper ends of these members 17 are pivoted to the upper members 18 which are in turn connected pivotally to the chair as at 19 in a manner well understood.

The forward leg element 1 is preferably provided with a spring latch member 20 which cooperates with a socket in the underside of the seat when the seat is moved into the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 to automatically lock the seat in this position. This latch may vary as to form, but is desirably one that will automatically and firmly lock the seat in this stated position. F urthermore, the back is provided with a cut-away portion 21 adapted to serve as a handle for lifting the chair from place to place either while in collapsed or extended condition.

In operation, it will be apparent that the seat may be released and swung upwardly with relation to the back, in which event it will be necessary to break the jointed braces so that the seat may assume the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The back may then be thrown rearwardly which is the only movement of which it is capable owing to the hinge structure shown and in its rearward movement, it will force the lever link 11 downwardly so as to operate the crossed levers to draw the parallel leg elements together. At the time when these leg elements are together, the back 12 must necessarily be in substantial abutment to the rear leg element as shown in Fig. 4. The same result may be effected by simply lifting the seatwithout breaking the brace joints, for this will serve to force the back rearwardly and to draw the leg elements together by means of the toggle levers.

It will be apparent that I have provided a simple form of foldable chair wherein the folding action is positively and definitely controlled practically by the movement of one element. Furthermore, by the provision of an aperture of peculiar form in the back of the chair, this'collapsed chair may be very readily carried from place to place, which portable feature is one of the essential elements of my invention, for my improvement is designed particularly to fill a demand for a collapsible chair which may be carried from place to place.

What I claim, is-

A foldable chair comprising substantially parallel vertical leg units having slots therein, crossed levers pivotally secured to said leg units at one end and operating in said slots at their other ends, a back hingedly secured to one of said leg units, a seat hingedly secured to said back, and link levers between one of said leg units and said back whereby the leg units are caused to move toward each other when said back is swung rearwardly.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LUTHER M. CLOUSE.

Witnesses:

G. C. SHEPHERD, A. C. CLoUsE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 01 Patentz, Washington, D. G. 

